Rainwater Harvesting In Venice Will Help Keep It From Sinking

There are farms in the Venice Lagoon producing local food, and like the city, they are sinking as the water from the aquifer below is pumped out. This farm used to irrigate with well and municipal water, but artists Marjetica PotrÄ and Marguerite Kahrl have developed a solar powered rainwater harvesting system to gather the water from the roofs of the greenhouses.

The farm sells directly to residents of Venice and recently won the Zero Km prize for local food. Fabrizio writes in Abitare:

The Rainwater Harvesting Project is based on the idea that the existence of the farm, like Venice itself, is dependent on water. Because the Lagoon is subsiding, the government of Venice plans to limit the use of water from the underground aquifers in field irrigation, a measure that would threaten local food production and the livelihoods of the farmers. At the same time, sea levels are rising, a fact that threatens the very existence of Venice. Water, which used to be Venice's closest ally has become her enemy. The on-site Rainwater Harvesting Project seeks to model an alternative to this paradigm.

There are farms in the Venice Lagoon producing local food, and like the city, they are sinking as the water from the aquifer below is pumped out. This farm used to irrigate with well and municipal water, but artists